Growing Ginger Indoors – Yes, You Can!

in #gardening8 years ago

If you are looking for the perfect herb to grow indoors, ginger won’t let you down. It is a very hardy, low maintenance plant that thrives in partial or even full shade. It requires very little effort. And the best thing about growing this herb is that you can harvest a little of its delicious root at a time while the rest of the plant continues to grow. You don’t have to “harvest” the entire plant in order to enjoy this delicious root herb.

A Hardy Plant

Although the ginger plant is very easy to grow, it is a plant that does not tolerate frost well. Because of this, it actually makes sense to grow the plant indoors instead of outside. You can grow it in a simple pot that you can bring indoors during the cold months and take outside when it’s warm. The plant takes about 10 months after planting to mature.

The ginger plant does not need much sunshine to do well. In fact, it will do just fine if you just place it near a window that lets in at least a little sunshine.

After the plant grows to maturity, you can harvest little pieces of the ginger root without harming the plant. Ginger is a very powerful and concentrated herb. Just a little is all you need for most uses such as making tea, herbal remedies, and for cooking.

Planting

You can grow your ginger from either a seed or from a sprout. Both can be obtained from a local garden center. Seeds can also be obtained online. Since ginger is not a common plant that gardeners grow, it’s possible that you might have difficulty sourcing it locally. If so, just order seeds online.

While it is technically possible to grow a ginger plant from root purchased from your local grocery store, people who try this often have poor results. This is because many grocery store suppliers often apply a special growth inhibitor to keep it from sprouting. There is also the possibility that root sourced from your local grocery store could still have some residual pesticides on it, which makes it less than ideal for planting. For best results, grow your own from seeds or from sprouts properly sourced. 

Be sure to plant your ginger in a nice, wide pot containing fresh potting soil. Ginger roots tend to spread out, so you’ll want a pot that gives your plant’s roots plenty of room to spread out. After planting, be sure to place the pot in an area that receives some sunlight – but not too much. Also, when watering, be sure to water just enough to keep the soil moist. You don’t want to soak the plant. If you are planting from seeds, you should see the first sprout in just a few short weeks. 

Harvesting

Wait at least three months before attempting to harvest your first root. Gently scrape aside some of the soil to reveal a root. Cut a small piece of it and then cover the root back up. As long as you keep your plant healthy, you can continue to harvest ginger root this way for a long time. 

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What a great idea! I love ginger but never really thought about trying to grow some. To be honest, I have kind of a black thumb when it comes to indoor plants (I'd post a pic of my latest kill, but it's too sad). Question - do you get any of that wonderful ginger smell from the plant? (hoping yes!)

Good information about the growth inhibitor applied by stores. Another reason to grow your own, as eating something sprayed with growth inhibitor just doesn't sound like a great idea!

Thank you for the information. Ginger is apparently a superfood, and it is great news to know you can grow it indoors.
Can you recommend specific sites to buy it from?

I can't recommend any specific place. There's a bunch of them online though.

i love ginger. growing indoors is an awesome idea. if you live in the subtropics, be careful planting it in your yard. it grows like crazy and it is all but impossible to get out. it invades everywhere like peppermint on steroids. cool stuff, thanks.

Funny you should write about this. I just planted some ginger this morning. I used a piece of root that I bought in a shop. I know you said I'll probably see poor results, but it was already sprouting in about 5 places (those little nodes) - so I potted it.

Let's see how it goes.

Thank you, what a great video!